Late Android Phones Missing Image Thumbnails

[ameerat42]

Do you have this problem...?

You have a late model Android Phone (say running Android 10 or 11)
AND
You cannot see the image thumbnails when you open the phone folder in Windows!!!

Instead, you only see generic icons as shown here...

147722

Solution...???
I've contacted Nokia, combed Nokia forums, and combed Microsoft forums...

From the last, they ID it as a dumbed-down camera app in Android 10 and onwards.
Their only workaround is to install a 3rd-party app, like Open Camera, which DOES
make thumbnails.

Yes, I've had Open Camera for ages as an alternative app, but now... - in this new
Nokia 50G phone, Open Camera does not support the 48 Mpx camera, nor DNG :(

So, welcome to the 21st Century - BCE! :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[ricktas]

Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I recall that in Windows these days, other than the default pictures folders, you have to set the directory to know that the folder is pictures for it to show any folder as thumbnails.

A quick google:

From the File menu, click Options. This opens the Folder Options dialog.
In the View tab of Folder Options, uncheck the following option: Always show icons, never thumbnails.
Click OK. Alternately, you can also enable thumbnails via the Performance Options dialog.

[ricktas]

More:

https://www.wikihow.com/Enable-Image-Preview-to-Display-Pictures-in-a-Folder-(Windows-10)

[ameerat42]

Ta, Rick. I checked all those as part of yesterday's extensive hair-pulling session.

However, later on I found that a serendipitous workaround is to use my very
erstwhile MyPhoneExplorer. This came from reading that someone recommended
using AirDroid (which wanted an account to work :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:)

Anyway, I connected the phone via WiFi to that and Bingo! - As you can see
below, thumbnails rule! Oddly, I had only used this program to download phone
details like SMS/MMS/Contacts/Call logs before deleting them from the phone(s).

As an observation, it is a great social as well as semantic pity that "progress" is
often used to mean the exact opposite! - Come on, Google...!!! :rolleyes:

Screen from MyPhoneExplorer...
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I don't mind that it makes exceptions of HEIFs and DNGs.

[ameerat42]

An update on this matter...

I recently had to update the already late Android 11 to Android 12.

Lo!... Behold!... - and other gestures, it now shows image thumbnails.

- There's nothing like pergross! :rolleyes: